Having a fish tank in your bedroom can create a lovely natural environment which can help you to relax more easily but there are a few considerations to think about before you decide to move your fish tank upstairs.

There is no doubt that making a fish tank the focal point of your room rather than a television or a computer screen is beneficial to your health, and there are so many designs of fish tanks around that you are bound to find one that works well as part of your bedroom without too much difficulty.

However, having a fish tank upstairs can present some logistical issues so here a number of ideas you need to think about before you decide to move your fish in with you at night. We talked to the experts of Aquacadabra and they shared with us a list of what to consider when setting up a fish tank in your bedroom.

1. Is your tank too heavy?

Having a tank downstairs doesn’t matter as it is on solid flooring, however, when you decide to have a tank up in a bedroom the weight and size of the tank becomes much more of an issue.

You need to think carefully about how much the tank weighs when it’s full of water after all, the last thing you want is a disaster where the pressure of weight from a fish tank ends up breaking through your bedroom floor.

Bedroom-based fish tanks need to be much smaller than those you could have downstairs and how you set them up matters as well – avoid stands which sit on small feet, but have them sat flat on the floor to avoid having high pressure points for the weight.

2. Lighting

You need to think about the fish at night – if you are likely to be up burning the midnight oil with lights on at all hours then this can cause immense stress for the fish so your bedroom might not be the best place for them.

Equally, if you like your bedroom to be dark to sleep in then having a fish tank in there might not work for you either, if you needed an early night and the lights were still on in your tank, for example.

3. Maintenance issues

What happens when you need to change the water in your fish tank and carry out regular maintenance of it? Are you going to have to carry heavy buckets of water up and down flights of stairs as this is not a very practical option?

What would happen if there was an accident with your tank resulting in a leak? Leaking water upstairs will go down into the ceiling underneath, into the floorboards and into the electrics – you could end up having to replace your downstairs ceiling potentially.

4. Smells and chemicals

If you spray deodorant and perfume regularly in your bedroom, the droplets can become absorbed by the fish tank water and this will be very bad for your fish and can kill them so think about the activities you undertake in your room and how they could impact your fish, before your move them.

Equally, if you don’t maintain your fish tank regularly it will become very unpleasant and will smell bad, producing nasty gases into your bedroom which is not a nice environment for you or the fish.

5. Noises

Fish tanks can be noisy with filtration systems running throughout the night so if you need absolute quiet to sleep you might want to rethink having a fish tank in your bedroom.

Equally, if your children play a lot upstairs and there is loud music, shouting and feet stamping all day long it can create stress for fish so you need to take their wellbeing and health into account.

 If you like to get ready with loud music playing in your room this won’t be conducive to having a fish tank in there with you as you fish won’t thrive with the noise and vibrations disturbing their environment regularly.

Conclusion

As long as you take all of the issues raised into account and choose an aquarium which is the right size and weight for your bedroom and won’t cause structural damage to your house then there is no reason you can’t enjoy an aquarium in your bedroom.

Once you have worked out the logistics of setting the tank up, upstairs and can manage the maintenance easily, then you can just sit back and enjoy the relaxing new additions to your bedroom.

Aquariums can really add a calming and soothing effect to a bedroom which can help to calm children down ready for bedtime and help grown-ups to focus when trying to work, rather than getting distracted by the television or other digital screens.

As long as you take all of the practical ideas into account, choosing an aquarium for your bedroom can be a fun activity and will bring a whole new dimension to your fish ownership experience.